History

Before Blackberry Ridge was an 18-Hole Golf Course in southwest Sartell, MN - It was part of the 560-Acre Parcel of Land on which the Fenlason Brothers, Donnie and Veryl Fenlason, had grown up on. They made a career out of dairy farming as next door neighbors, with the help of their wives, Linda and Kittie Fenlason. Their two homes still sit just off hole No. 11 and next to the 1050 red tile barn now used as the Golf Course's Maintenance Building.

As the brothers got older, neither was able to do the work alone on the farm and they started talking about retirement. They were still too young to do nothing and they were sitting on all this property. A neighbor suggested a golf course. "The original idea," says Kittie, "was that we were going to have a managed business and go to Florida and tell them to just send the checks."

Donnie and Veryl ran their business for a few years, then the unthinkable happened, Donnie passed away from cancer in 2009. Ten months later, Veryl died of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. "Like they say, God gives you strength when you need it. And he did," says Linda. Linda and Kittie took on their titles as CEO and CFO in 2009.